Cultural Figures Respond Against the Planetary Crisis: Sowing the Apple That Dropped on Isaac Newton's Head

Back in 2015, artist and activist Gustav Metzger embarked on one of his final significant endeavors. Famed for creating auto-destructive art, Metzger had dedicated his life to responding to societal issues from nuclear disarmament to plant-based living. Via a concise video message, he issued a call for a international event to honor the environment.

“This is my appeal for your engagement in this global appeal for a day of action to reflect on the environment on 4 November 2015,” he stated, urging makers and thinkers to resist the ongoing loss of species. “Our task is to help the public recall of the diversity and intricacy in nature … and by doing so creativity will explore realms that are naturally imaginative.”

The Inception of Remember Nature

Thus the Nature Remembrance initiative was established, a day when creatives nationwide created responses to the ongoing environmental crisis. An organizer, who supported Metzger in his final years, recalls his feeling of immediacy. “He had a strong sense of urgency for him at the close of his days,” she says. “I urged him – don’t delay. We shouldn’t hold back for financial support or for anyone to authorize this. We should proceed.”

Ten Years On

After ten years, Remember Nature hasn’t quite sparked the widespread change across the arts that Metzger had dreamed of, but Joelson believes its impact can still be seen in initiatives like Culture Declares and climate activism networks, as well as in how makers handle the sustainability of their work. That’s why she is relaunching it to celebrate its ten-year mark. Part of the 18 lead artists taking part currently are Yu-Chen Wang and prominent artists. They have all designed posters, recorded calls to action, and developed pieces set to be unveiled on the fourth of November next year.

Cultivating Awareness

In conversation with the artist, she is out in a field in the countryside, assisting with planting apple trees that will create a circular grove. Collaborating with schoolchildren, her project is part creative piece and part learning experience. As she explains, the planning and planting sessions have already included learning about maths (spacing the distances between trees), science (discussing the genetic makeup), and origins (tracing the stories of how different apples came to the UK).

A lot of the apples were picked because they’ve got amusing labels such as the other unusual varieties. We have one apple that produces crimson liquid

“A lot of the apples were chosen because they’ve got humorous titles such as the other unusual varieties,” she explains. “We have one apple that produces scarlet-colored sap. They all have background narratives. The decio apple was imported by the Romans. The local breed is the apple that descended from a tree and struck Isaac Newton’s head.”

She hoped the children to be more actively aware of nature and the control we have over it. “To many of them, apples were just things you find in a supermarket, so I was encouraging them, when they go shopping, to check the packaging and see the variety and the source. Hopefully it says Kent!”

Cultural Projects Throughout Britain

At the capital, a participant’s work about extinction will involve participants looking through an art institution on a mission to find the ice masses that have been lost in the past decade. Each glacier will be drawn on the gallery’s windows and walls using special pens. When located, a chime will sound and a reading will be held to remember that specific ice mass.

Meanwhile, up in Barrow-in-Furness, a creative will be putting on a free exhibition about our separation from nature, as well as organizing a communal feast, prepared with sustainable ingredients. Over in Newcastle, an artist is broadcasting her musical project, in which community vocalists undertake a task to perform for vegetation in Newcastle’s Jesmond Dene.

Children’s Voices

Following this approach, a featured creator will be collaborating with schoolchildren – on the day itself she is hoping to fill an art space in youth creations that document their aspirations and concerns for the years ahead. “Children’s words and images are compelling because they’re not as restricted as adults’,” she says in her recorded message. “Young people’s input to the world is something quite unique and hopefully it will provoke a awareness of obligation from everyone. Youth is pure. They have concerns for tomorrow. But this shouldn’t be about anxiety – it should be about hope and us ensuring that they have a tomorrow.”

Remembrance and Reflection

Another artist’s work also connects with children. Drawing on past experience, his feathered initiative involves sketching winged creatures and then performing as birds – and for the initiative he is aiming to tackle an iconic figure. He is also organizing a guided walk of the city, stopping at places that have been part of his ongoing series over the past twenty years. That ongoing series began when he experienced multiple occurrences of discrimination on a single day. To counter this, Harfleet decided to plant a pansy at the spot where it happened and record it – the project has since grown to cover events reported by other people across the world. “The flowers remain there but they are temporary,” says Harfleet. “It seems birds consume them, so they’re a ephemeral memorial.”

He picked the pansy not just for the direct association – it has long been a derogatory label – but also because its name derives from the French verb, penser, to think. “People connected it with a man who is contemplative, and that, of course, is a bad quality,” he says.

The project on Remember Nature day is to place blooms at new locations and also refresh the memorials in places he has honored before, all the while discussing with those on the itinerant journey about the occurrences and his personal experiences. “There’s been quite a few since I last planted,” he says mournfully.

Advancing Positively

The artist wishes his work – and